CHINA GROVE — Farmers Day in China Grove is an annual event that numerous visitors to the Rowan County town look forward to every year, but this year’s event is going to look a little different.
In an effort to get back to the festival’s roots, which pays homage to southern Rowan’s agriculture community and heritage, the event organizers reconsidered what kind of vendors would optimize their vision.
“For years, we have had a problem with Farmers Day and that attendance was dwindling every year,” Mayor Rodney Phillips said. “Feedback was that it became stale.
“We knew if we did not change things, we might have to stop the festival and do something different.”
After the festival last year, the town formed a committee and began asking what changes needed to take place.
“One big concern we have heard is that you guys have too much commercial and civic presence,” Phillips said. “One third of our booths were either a commercial vendor or a civic group. We knew we had a problem. This is not a festival for people to come and solicit donations or buy windows.”
One of the decisions that was made involved capping the amount of commercial and civic booths to 10 percent.
“There are 140 booths,” Phillips said. “So no more than 14 civic groups.”
It is not just civic groups.
“We also cut out political campaigns,” Phillips said. “Republican party won’t have a booth. Democrat party won’t have a booth either.”
That was not all however. In year’s past, they still had a lot of civic organizations from out of town.
“We added a requirement for civic groups,” Phillips said. “First priority goes to civic groups in China Grove who are investing their money back in China Grove or South Rowan. For example, FFA (Future Farmers of America) at South Rowan sells ice cream and those profits go back into the South Rowan FFA.”
One local member, Charles Dean, of two groups, Fame Preservation Group and Rowan Rifles Sons of Confederate Veterans #405, remarked how those organizations have been present in years past and objected to the new rules during the most recent China Grove Town Council meeting. Dean addressed the council during the public comment section.
“For the last several years, both groups have been vendors at the annual Farmer Day Festival,” Dean said in an email summarizing his talking points from the meeting. “Both groups are non-partisan non-profit entities based in Rowan County. Both groups have done extensive work specifically in China Grove in the way of genealogical research, historical preservation, upkeep of gravestones/memorial markers and educational programming/outreach. Many of our members reside in China Grove and/or do business there nearly every day. China Grove’s first mayor, General Andrew Jackson Sechler, was a Confederate veteran.”
Dean indicated that he would like to see those booths reinstated.
“The town and its annual event are large enough to accommodate both and many more organizations,” he said. “As a professional historian, I see value in the presence of these groups and any like civic organization that wishes to promote and preserve our local heritage.”
The mayor explained that with such a tight cap on commercial and civic groups, some organizations did not make the cut, his own church included. At the end of the day, he said it was not about excluding any one group but about reimagining Farmers Day and the history that it has as an agricultural celebration of local commerce and food production.
The mayor remains optimistic that they are creating something special this year.
“There will be more farmers, a watermelon-eating contest and even a kiss-a-pig contest,” the mayor said with a laugh.
Farmers Day is July 17 and 18.
